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Learning to play the guitar can be frustrating in the beginning, for yourself and the people listening. But you stick with it, and finally, you can play a few chords, and it feels like you're getting somewhere.
Eager to jam out your first song, you start strumming but as soon as you open your mouth to sing along it all goes wrong, sound familiar? The reason this happens is that you're now dealing with two different rhythms at the same time – singing and strumming.
To help you get started, we have put together our 10 tips for learning how to sing and play guitar at the same time. Let's get started!
It's very tempting to learn chord after chord as fast as you can to feel like you are making progress. However, the worst thing you can do is try to take on too much too soon; you need to build solid foundations.
When it comes to learning chords there's knowing your chords then there's really knowing your chords. What we mean by that is that it's one thing to play a chord from a chart when practicing but it's another to know it well enough that it's instantly on call whenever needed, without visual aids.
The only way to build solid foundations is by learning to do the basics very well. The most common key signatures in modern popular music are C major and A minor so that's where you should start. Every major key has a relative minor that shares the same notes, and A minor is the relative minor of C major. The only difference between C major and A minor is that they start on different notes, but the notes and more importantly, the chords in both are the same.
C major scale: C D E F G A B C
A minor scale: A B C D E F G A
Every major scale follows this chord progression – major|minor|minor|major|major|minor|diminished
Every minor scale follows this chord progression – minor|diminished|major|minor|minor|major|major
Don't worry, it's not as complicated as you might think! If we number each step in a major/minor scale 1 to 7 then we now know that in the key of C major chord 1 is Cmaj, chord 2 is Dmin and so on. Same goes for the minor scale, chord 1 in A minor is Amin, chord 5 is Emin and so on, makes sense right?
Now that you know this, you can think about the most common chord progressions used in popular music. The most common progression is 1 – 4 – 5, which is the root of the blues and rock & roll. This gives you Cmaj – Fmaj – Gmaj in the key of C major and Amin – Dmin – Emin in the key of A minor. Practice the 1 – 4 – 5 progression in both keys until it's second nature, this will get you through so many songs.
Another really common, and more modern chord progression is 1 – 5 – 6 – 4, in the key of C major, this gives you Cmaj – Gmaj – Amin – Fmaj.
When you are comfortable with those chords, try taking the chords Cmaj, Gmaj, Amin, Fmaj and test out different progressions. Those four chords are the foundation of countless pop songs.
In case you are wondering why you should learn chords this way rather than focusing purely on one song, the answer is simple. Understanding this basic theory will get you playing lots of songs much faster, not just one.
This might sound obvious but choose a song that you can play using the chords you have been practicing. So, choose something with no crazy chord changes and no crazy rhythms. If possible, choose a song that you already know very well, for example, a song you are used to singing along to.
Don't choose a song that has any crazy lyrics that will have you tongue-tied before you finish one verse. Most popular songs should be a safe choice, but don't jump straight into an acoustic version of Eminem's Rap God. You get the idea.
Another tip that might seem obvious is to make sure you choose a song that you like. Don't just choose a song because it's supposed to be great for beginners; there are lots that suit beginners, find one you love.
Once you choose a song, try singing along to the track without your guitar till you have the lyrics nailed.
Learning chords properly at the beginning will make this step much easier for you. Now that you are comfortable with the chords you've learned and changing between them, it's time to apply them to your chosen song. What you are looking for first is the strumming pattern.
Some songs are instantly recognizable by the strumming pattern, like George Michael's Faith, for example. Listen to the guitar part carefully to get the strumming pattern then practice it on one chord to start. Once you have the pattern down, start to go through the chord changes until completely comfortable.
You also want to look out for any changes in pattern, breakdowns, or stops in the guitar part. Make sure you get this down before you move on!
So you know the lyrics all by heart, and you are ready to go, not quite yet. No matter how well you know the lyrics, as soon as you try to combine playing and singing, you'll struggle to find them.
You'll have times where you get the right chords but forget the lyrics and times where you nail the lyrics but get the chord wrong. Don't stress, this is to be expected at the start, but there's an exercise that can help; hum before you sing.
Rather than singing the lyrics, start by humming the melody while you play instead. This will give you a chance to get used to dealing with two different rhythms without having to focus on lyrics too.
Once you get the hang of humming the melody while you play, it's time to start singing.
Ok, this isn't cheating, but it will make things easier for you early on. So far, you've learned the chords, lyrics, strumming pattern, and you're putting it all together now. Feel free to use a chord chart, lyric sheet or combination of both if it helps keep you on track initially.
If it helps, you can practice the song in sections like the verse only, chorus only, then combine them and keep building. When you practice enough, the playing will start to become muscle memory, the lyrics will be on the tip of your tongue, and you can lose the cheat sheet.
Everything is going well, you can play and sing at the same time, and you feel like a rockstar. Even if you feel great and your parent or best friend tells you that it sounds amazing, there's most likely room for improvement. Try recording yourself and listening back. It doesn't have to be studio-grade recording; a smartphone will do the job.
The most important thing is, to be honest with yourself, be a tough critic, and you'll get it right faster. The most common problem people will find at this stage is timing and tempo. In most melodies, you'll find phrases that have trickier timing, and sometimes unknowingly you get it wrong because it's easier.
For example, something that starts/ends just before or just after the beat may feel more natural to start/end on the beat, so look out for any timing issues.
No matter how much you're convinced that your tempo is fine, chances are you sound like a runaway train at times. Either that or you slow down for the more difficult parts, but this is your chance to identify any areas that need fine-tuning.
Now that you've listened to yourself and identified any timing/tempo issues, it's time to correct them. Use a metronome to tighten up your playing. If you don't have one, you can find one online. Find out the tempo of your song and set the metronome accordingly then try playing along. If it's difficult, to begin with, then try just playing guitar and add singing when you have your tempo locked in.
This is a great way to sort out any timing issues like the example we gave above, too. In music you have something called target notes, a target note is a note that you want to land on at a very specific time.
For example, when a guitar solo is played over chord changes, there are certain notes the guitarist will want to play over certain chords.
So hitting those target notes at the right time is more important than everything you play around them. It's very similar with vocals in the sense that hitting the right notes at exactly the right time is vital. It can be the difference between a powerful, uplifting hook and a labored, lackluster chorus that's just dragging along.
Getting used to playing to a click will help you fix these issues and reduce them in the future.
There's nothing easier than deciding a song is too hard and switching to a new one before it's finished, but that's a very bad habit. That kind of habit develops musicians who can play a lot of things that aren't quite right.
You might be close enough that people know what it is, but something is still slightly off. It's a mentality that leaves you with unfinished songs and unfinished techniques.
When you work on a song, see it through till the end. Apart from self-satisfaction, it will make learning the next one easier each time.
By this stage, you know how to practice, how to find any faults, and how to rectify them, awesome! Now you want to keep the ball rolling, set yourself a target that fits with your schedule. One new song per week is a pretty good target to aim for if you can manage it.
One of the most important things that you can learn is that music is like a language. If you speak English, for example, you can listen to five different monologues, each unique but you understand the words used to construct each of them. In music, it's the same, five pop songs can have different rhythms and different melodies, but if you learned your chords properly, you can hear what's going on.
Of course, for now, we are talking about songs with basic chord progressions like the 1 – 4 – 5 or 1 – 5 – 6 – 4 that we covered earlier. It does get more difficult as you delve into more advanced music theory, but the principle remains the same. The more you increase your musical vocabulary, the more you can listen to songs and understand what is going on before you learn to play it.
Understanding this will change how you hear and learn songs. It will also make learning lots of different songs seem like a much less daunting task. Plus, being able to play a bunch of great songs is a pretty awesome party trick.
As you learn more, it's tempting to play it all in one go and let everyone hear what you can do, but please don't. There's nothing worse than a musician who plays everything they know in every single song, especially when vocals are involved. Keep it simple; it's not about playing everything it's about playing the right thing.
We hope our tips make learning how to sing and play the guitar at the same time much easier for you. Enjoy and keep practicing.
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